1870: Grant, the Press, Immigration, and the Indians

More not in the Book (sort of)

Press Propaganda and Grant

If you are reading this, then the writing on 1870 has broken ground, and it is time for a snippet of things more/less not in the book. I have a bit on tap to make up for the prolonged posting absence on the topic.

The first part here will be addressed in several places, and that is the intellectual class and their stiff necked loathing of Grant as depicted by the cartoon above.

Since most of this part will be covered in the book, it is worth noting that the opposition to Grant was already baked into the cake of his tenure in office. The major NYC newspapers (which prided themselves on being the elite ruling chattering classes) drove the narrative hard. Grant = bad; anyone who agrees with us = good. The papers in the cartoon represent the South, and NYC Democrat and “Republican” papers. They were all on the same page loathing Grant. There were a few exceptions. The New York Times was generally positive and friendly to Grant.

The simple explanation for all this is that Grant was his own man, and the ruling class hated him for it. He actually wanted to wield executive power! Horrors!

The Indian Question in 1870